Legitimation
& the Popular

By legitimation I mean the processes through which political rule becomes tolerated or supported by different groups of people, temporarily resulting in the shared belief that politico-economic arrangements are righteous.

Popular culture is a pivotal social arena in which legitimation takes place. While popular culture is not political in the narrow sense of the term, it gives rise to and negotiates political meanings and worldviews. Popular culture or traditions condition the salience of social arrangements and political programs among social milieus and classes.

I study how stories, visuals and music help to engender feelings of belonging to a group. They draw, reproduce or challenge a group’s external boundaries and its internal lines. Put differently, they are materials that facilitate drawing, redrawing and erasing symbolic boundaries. Such cultural materials are therefore pivotal for explaining why and how people come to accept or challenge politico-economic arrangements.